Extending the Visual Identity

On page 103 of No Plastic Sleeves, the text explains how important it is to have your entire portfolio designed in a specific way to display your skills and creativity. I think now that I have read this I am going to think of or start designing a cover page. I'm not sure how effective it is to have my branding on the first page. Right now I have my resume, letterhead and business cards on the opening page. Yes this immediately shows the viewer who I am but these elements aren't that intriguing. They aren't colorful and they don't jump start the viewers opinion into my creative mind. Also I didn't go with the expensive portfolio that can be initialed and designed. Unfortunately I have a plain black hard cover and I can't do much about it.

I hope I have time to complete a cover element for the first page of my portfolio! Now thinking about it i'm thinking an info-graphic type of project with information about myself and brightly colored graphics.

Below is a sick looking portfolio cover someone made. I think it is very appealing to look at and definitely makes me want to look at the rest of his work.

Coming to the end..

As I come to the end of putting my portfolio together I am realizing how important the placement of each item is. For example, I initially when setting up my portfolio had both my type posters next to each other in a spread. Once reviewing with Professor Hastings, we together decided that together the two posters competed. I then decided to move one type poster to another spread.

While reading No Plastic Sleeves I found some words to prove my move of the type poster to be valid.

"Visual emphasis can also be achieve through more complex means, such as creating visual tension between juxtaposing elements or by creating a more intricate shape or image." (Volk & Currier, p.91)

With this decision being made it was then important that I go back and double check the placement of my other elements. Once editing the placement of my pieces I believe I have come to a concluding portfolio set up appropriately. I am hoping that visually no pieces compete but all pieces come together whether they be in a spread or riding solo.

Design of the Portfolio

In Building Design Porfolios, I have been exposed to many ways one could display their work. Some of these ways include online portfolios, standard book portfolios and the most fascinating, the non-traditional portfolio. Looking at how many people chose to put together their pieces which are out of the box and original already with an out of the box and original technique is amazing. I have decided if I were to have all the resources as well as the time, this would be so fun and worth while. It just makes sense. Why would the design of the designer stop at their work. It can go beyond.. the portfolio could also be a piece.

I remember when Creative Buzz came and spoke to us they discussed how some portfolios that caught their eye were considered to be non-traditional. These were the portfolios that didn't fit in a book or sometimes even a bag. These portfolios were out of the box and noticed. When editing my portfolio in the future I definitely feel this is a direction to go in for presenting my work. As I stated in the blog prior to this, first impressions are key. Why not go all out and design something wild for the portfolio. Something different with a theme, a story and a process.

Presenting a Print Portfolio

As I read further into Building Design Portfolios I learned so much more about the actual creation of a portfolio. Something that was extremely important that I took away was the order of things in the portfolio. On page 40, the text explained how important the order of projects is to the viewer. Just like a magazine, website, or really anything, the first thing seen creates the energy to follow and ignites the first impression. For example if I don't make sure I put one of my strongest pieces on the first page of my portfolio, this could immediately set my viewer to believe i'm not everything I can be. This being said, it is so vital that I arrange my portfolio in a specific way.

Another part of this section in reading I took away with me has to do with future interviews. This specific part was when the text stated the actual interview and how to act appropriately to represent yourself to the best of your ability. When presenting I learned it is important to go around 5 minutes early to the interview. It is also important to have questions prepared prior to the interview that you may be answered. It is also important to not talk so much about classwork rather to focus on projects enjoyed and why they were to enjoyable to create. I take this advice as important because I can understand why a recent graduate would enter an interview and use words such as "my class, this class project, for class"...now I know though how these phrases can hinder our chances.

New Book

So i've opened the second book required for this semesters portfolio class. As we have been told time upon time, we shouldn't be worrying about the class, grade, academic aspect rather we should focus solely on entering the creative world. With this being said, I rephrase my first sentence to, I have opened the second book that will lead me to future success with my portfolio and career. (By the way, the book is Building Design Portfolio, by Sara Eisenman.)

"One way to begin is to remember that this is just one portfolio; you can redesign it next year or next week. Knowing this can make any big project less intimidating."

Thank God for the fact that a portfolio can be edited. Now going through more of the motions of putting the portfolio together and looking at all the pieces that either need editing or that need to be acknowledged, understanding it can be fixed and updated literally forever is such a calming thought. This ending product is never really ending. What we present to professionals come the final class, the presentation class, will change in a matter of months, maybe weeks or even days! As designers we are always finding new and better ways to display our creativity and not one way is permanent.

Something interesting...

" For recent graduates, design work generally addresses problems they were asked to solve in class, and those samples inevitably reflect the influence of specific teachers."

This is so true and yet so questionable. When out of college if lucky enough to have an internship one many have work from the actual creative world to display to a professional but if not lucky enough...is it just assignments that represent each of us as graphic designers? For me, personally I have not had the chance to have a design internship. I don't have work done under a professionals wing to display the final week during interviews. How much is this going to hurt me? I'm going to have the same projects many of my peers have unless we have not shared the same professors. Regardless will my work just be repetitive or is skill just skill and no matter what I can succeed based on my own identity. This is definitely something to think about which I haven't thought about before.

Another question that comes to mind, if from school we display what we have done in our classes, is this really our creativity? Is it a professors creativity that we brought our own spin to? I guess in the real world we will always have assignments and we will just have to edit them and create around them using our own skills and what we are expected of. Maybe there is no difference, and maybe a graduate with many items of work could be looked at the same as any creative creator.

A bud

Based on critique I have found a bud to begin with! Infinity snake. For both my love of reptiles and Interest in the concept of infinity my identity and branding has begun...

I hope to make a snake skin infinity logo or maybe infinity logo with different textures. I'm excited because the color options are endless and the concept of infinity really means something. I always say in terms of design the opportunities and creativeness is endless so infinity makes sense :)

Info graphics !

These info graphics I came across the other day. I'm a huge health & fitness freak so to see these combined with one of my passions in life completely made my day! I would LOVE to one day be responsible for a few projects like these!